Sorry that this took so long! School has been keeping me a tad preoccupied, and I've run out of pre-written chapters for My New Neighbor. It might be awhile before the next because I want to have a couple chapters ready in advance.

Dear rude reviewer (who's was so much of a coward that they commented as an anonymous 'guest'): Screw you. This fic wasn't meant to be realistic so if you don't like it, don't read it! Besides, 300 other people seem to think otherwise!

I appreciate critique since I am a fairly new writer, but I will not put up with rudeness.

As for everyone else thank you for all the positive reviews! It's been fantastic motivation!

Chapter 7: Dining encounters

Riddle allowed Severus Snape to take the lead in this unfamiliar area. He and the eldest Malfoy followed him to a maroon booth in the corner. Once they took their seats, a blonde muggle girl with a black streak in her hair swiftly made her way over to them. She greeted them with a polite smile and handed them menus before wandering over to another table. Tom let his eyes skim through the meal options; it seemed that this diner wasn't restricted to a certain cuisine. The quaint little place seemed to offer a little bit of everything. He was completely focused on deciding what to order; but if Riddle had glanced up from his menu, then he would have spotted unruly raven hair, and the green-eyed teen attached to it, who was currently wiping down one of the empty round-tables only a few feet away.

~HPTR~

Harry took the wet rag and roughly scrubbed at the light brown smudge of left over food on the smooth round-table. He was getting rather frustrated because the smudge would not go away. He repeatedly sprayed the supposedly 'strong' cleaning solution on the spot before scrubbing some more... Nope, the blasted thing was still there! Harry growled at the stubborn smudge.

There was light snickering next to him, he looked up and threw a glare at Carrie, not realizing that his mouth formed a cute, but put off, pout. She was laughing at him now, "Oh, don't be such a sour puss!" The taller girl gestured to the table behind them, "How about you go take booth five's order and I'll handle the table washing." She leaned closer to him and whispered, "Later, I'll show you where Eddy keeps the good cleaning spray! Shh, don't tell him or he'll re-hide it!"

"...Why would he do that?"

"He doesn't want our job to be too easy! Mean, right?!" Apparently she wasn't looking for an answer because after she said that she walked off.

Harry shook his head and sighed at his co-workers' oddness, then he turned around to complete his part of the deal. He froze before he could take the first step.

He saw Snape, Malfoy, and VOLDEMORT sitting in booth five, In the diner that HE worked in!...Of course they were! Of course they were sitting their! It wouldn't be Harry Potter's life if they weren't. He knew that this day had been going too smoothly!

Harry squeaked, squeaked, and dove under the table of the neighboring booth just as the sound drew the attention of the three men who look over to where he had been standing. They looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to their menus.

The teen peeked out from under booth four to get a good look at them. Of all places in the world these men could have of gone for a bite to eat, why the hell did they pick here?! Sure Linda's Diner had built it's self a pretty good reputation around these parts, but what on earth made it attract a surly potions professor, a muggle racist, and a dark lord?! Harry was forced to attempt the only thing that he could think of to escape this situation...He started crawling, on hands and knees, under table to table. He weaved around chairs and crawled by a few customers who were looking at him strangely; like he was some kind of weirdo or something! He wasn't weird, just desperate!

He was nearly at the entrance to the kitchen, 'Almost there...'

"Harry!"

'Shit.' he thought. Linda caught him.

"What on earth are you doing down there? Come on, get up!" Harry shot up, hastily, but stiffly. He didn't have to turn around to know that the very eyes he was trying to remained unnoticed by were directly on him. "Are you alright, you look a bit pale?" Linda asked, a little concerned.

"I'm fine." he assured.

Linda raised an eyebrow at him, but accepted his answer, "If you say so. I think booth five, in the corner there, is waiting for someone to take their order."

"I'd rather not." Harry mumbled.

"What was that?"

He spoke up, "I have a bad history with those three."

"What kind of bad history?"

Harry shrugged a little, "Oh, two of them hate my existence and one of them has been trying to kill me for most of my life."

"Oh dear!" the diner owner said, glancing at the men. "...Well...I never said you had to be nice to them!" With that she suddenly grabbed Harry by the shoulder, whirled him around, and pushed him in the direction of booth five.

Harry soon found himself standing in front of booth five, reluctantly holding up a small notepad and pen. He was frozen in front of glamoured brown eyes that were seeping with crimson. He just barely heard Linda say, "Sorry for the wait, sirs!" and did not say anything himself until his boss kicked him in the back of the leg. "W-what will it be?" he asked dejectedly.

~HPTR~

Tom could not believe the sight in front of him. There was no way that Harry Potter was standing there, ready to take their lunch orders! His luck was not like Potter's! This had to be a trick, an illusion! Maybe his obsession with the boy has finally made him lose his mind. There was NO WAY that POTTER was standing before them, in a black apron, blushing rather deliciously!

"Well, what are you having?" the boy repeated a little more impatiently.

The sound of his voice made Riddle snap out of his daze. His surprised expression stretched into an evil smirk. After the woman had walked away, he saw Lucius reach for his wand. Immediately, Riddle kicked him in the shin from under the table. He shook his head at the blonde, then turned back to Harry and all but purred, "Hello Harry, I never would have thought that we'd ever run into to each other like this. I must say this is quite an interesting situation that we find ourselves in."

Harry rolled his eyes, "I wouldn't say interesting, you tell me what you want to eat, I'll tell the cook; not much to it really. Now, do you want lunch or not? If not, don't think that I can't kick you out!" He felt a severe lack of confidence in that statement.

Riddle chuckled and finally ordered Chicken Panini, with a peach and ginger tea; Snape ordered a Turkey and Cucumber Sandwich, with a water; Malfoy asked stiffly for a Chili-Spiced Salmon Salad, with a green tea. No words could accurately describe Harry's relief when he finished jotting down the food order and bolted away, much to the amusement of the dark lord.

The teen ran to the counter, all but slamming the order down, causing Ed to raise an eyebrow at him. Harry threw an aggravated look at Linda, "I can't believe you just did that to me!" The curly haired woman snickered at him, "You seemed to have handled yourself just fine. What did you think they were gonna do, knife you in public?"

"Something like that."

Harry was both glad and surprised that they hadn't attacked him on sight. Even if they were among muggles, there wasn't very many of them around at the moment; 'Obliviate' wasn't exactly an impossible option. He recalled Riddle's amused look and growled, that bastard was getting a kick out of this! Linda swat at his head, "Quit growling! You sound like a wild animal!"

Harry sat there and sulked before Linda smacked him a second time and sent him off to wait on other tables. Soon, the sound of a bell was heard; meaning that an order was ready. When Harry saw which order it was, he sent pleading looks to Adele and Carrie. They both smiled and pat him on the head. Just when he thought they were going to take care of things, they both sprinted from sight. "Damn it!"

So it was with utter defeat that the teen trudged over to the counter and collected the meal order on a large tray. He mustered all the courage he could and made his way towards booth five. Riddle spotted him halfway, so the man was smirking up a storm. Harry was sullenly setting down their plates when he heard Voldemort drawl in a mockingly sweet tone, "Thank you, Harry!"

The two other men, Snape and Malfoy, were pretending to be solely focused on their meals, but Harry could tell they were actually listening very attentively to this encounter. He set down their drinks and was eager to leave, but a hand snatched his wrist and yanked him down into the seat. Harry's face met with Riddle's firm chest; and he found that the hand that pulled him down was still gripping his wrist. The arm said hand was attached to, was now wrapped around his waist to keep him from escaping.

The teen was ready to start shouting at the dark lord before the man cut him off, "Do sit down if you have a moment Harry! It's been too long since we last talked." Harry blushed furiously as a few nearby customers took that the wrong way. One of them made a cat call!

"Let go of me." he demanded.

"Why would I do that? You see I find this position quite comfortable." Riddle emphasized this by placing his other hand, that up until then had been situated on his hip, low enough to squeeze his arse! The other two men ceased pretending to eat their lunch. They appeared to be having a hard time fighting off an identical pair of 'What the fuck?!' looks.

It was surprising that even though Harry had a powerful blush, he managed kept a neutral face when he spoke, "You know what?"

"Hm?" replied Riddle.

Harry picked up Riddle's glass, and smiled sweetly up at him, "I think I brought you the wrong tea."

He then proceeded to dump the contents of the glass over Riddle's head, not caring if he got some of the ice cold liquid on himself; the man received the brunt of the spill anyway. The shock made Riddle's hold on him loosen just enough for Harry to make a quick escape. While the teen slipped away, Malfoy Sr. and Snape were left gaping. "Shouldn't that get him fired?" Snape, bewildered, asked a passing blonde waitress who was identical to the one who had brought them their menus. "Not around here it doesn't, pervs!" She placed down a new tea for Riddle and left.

While Lucius and Severus spluttered in perplexity, Tom Riddle neither moved nor spoke. Ice cold tea dripped from his hair...Suddenly, his shoulders began to shake. The two men across from him froze, assuming that the shakes were from outrage. They could not see his expression, because he was staring down at where potter had been. Imagine their surprise when the dark lord broke out into highly amused laughter.

Riddle tossed another smirk at the boy who had already made it to the other side of the diner, and was taking the order of another table. He was trying to anyway, the people at that table were a little busy gaping at Potter.

When bright green eyes ended up glancing back at Tom, he raised his new glass of tea towards him and received another death glare in return. After taking a refreshing sip, he grabbed a few nearby napkins and pat down his soaked hair. He looked to Lucius and Severus, "Well what are you waiting for, we have been brought a rather delicious looking meal, so let's enjoy."

I hope you guys found this to be a fun chapter! Don't forget to review!

Don't ask me Linda why made Harry take their orders, it wasn't really meant to make sense. What did you think about their lunch orders? Can you tell that I randomly googled them? XD

I think I'm going to type up at least three rough draft chapters before updating again.

Next: We're going to pick up the pace...Tommy Boy sets himself a new goal...

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.